Hotel Indigo Kaohsiung Central Park (高雄中央公園英迪格酒店) aims to increase its occupancy rate by 5 percentage points this year after achieving an average of 75 percent last year, as the brand managed to outperform the industry with its unique neighborhood appeal.
The showing bucked a mild decline for the nation’s tourist hotels last year, when average occupancy rates stood at 63.33 percent from 64.8 percent in 2017, as more properties opened, while the number of inbound travelers grew a mild 3.05 percent to 11.06 million.
Indigo Kaohsiung has benefited from being the first and only member of an international hotel chain that focuses on a “neighborhood concept,” meaning that all properties reflect the community’s culture, character and history, communication and marketing official Mandy Lee (李姿瑩) said.
The hotel is next to the Central Park MRT Station and highlights the Kaohsiung’s history as a trading port with images of ships and containers, she said.
International travelers assign great importance to brands when choosing where to stay, because they offer consistent amenities and discounts, Lee said.
Indigo is a brand of InterContinental Hotels Group PLC, which has supplied 20 to 25 percent of clientele, Lee said.
Globally, Hotel Indigo competes with W Hotels, Aloft Hotels and Le Meridien Hotels, which seek to attract fashion-minded guests.
To boost its competitiveness, Indigo Kaohsiung has installed a rooftop bar that doubles as a venue for virtual reality gaming and themed gatherings.
The 129-guestroom facility is looking to keep room rates flat this year from NT$4,000 to NT$4,500 last year, with the economy set to slow at home and abroad, Lee said.
Business improved last quarter thanks to growing media attention on the city following the inauguration of Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) in December last year, front office manager Kyle Wang (王世瑋) said.
Occupancy rates picked up 10 percent during the January-to-March period, compared with the same period last year, Wang said.
Its convenient location lent support, as Hotel Indigo is in the heart of the Shinkuchan Commercial District (新崛江商圈) with a plethora of shops and restaurants, he said, adding that it is also not far from the Pier-2 Art Center, Love River (愛河) and other attractions.
Food and beverage sales generate 40 percent of revenue, led by restaurant Wok on the Park that features exotic cuisines, Lee said, adding that a veteran Japanese guest chef is visiting until May 12.
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: The chipmaker last month raised its capital spending by 28 percent for this year to NT$32 billion from a previous estimate of NT$25 billion Contract chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電子) yesterday launched a new 12-inch fab, tapping into advanced chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology to support rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) devices. Powerchip is to offer interposers, one of three parts in CoWoS packaging technology, with shipments scheduled for the second half of this year, Powerchip chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁) told reporters on the sidelines of a fab inauguration ceremony in the Tongluo Science Park (銅鑼科學園區) in Miaoli County yesterday. “We are working with customers to supply CoWoS-related business, utilizing part of this new fab’s capacity,” Huang said, adding that Powerchip intended to bridge
Microsoft Corp yesterday said that it would create Thailand’s first data center region to boost cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, promising AI training to more than 100,000 people to develop tech. Bangkok is a key economic player in Southeast Asia, but it has lagged behind Indonesia and Singapore when it comes to the tech industry. Thailand has an “incredible opportunity to build a digital-first, AI-powered future,” Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Satya Nadella said at an event in Bangkok. Data center regions are physical locations that store computing infrastructure, allowing secure and reliable access to cloud platforms. The global embrace of AI
Qualcomm Inc, the world’s biggest seller of smartphone processors, gave an upbeat forecast for sales and profit in the current period, suggesting demand for handsets is increasing after a two-year slump. Revenue in the three months ended in June will be US$8.8 billion to US$9.6 billion, the company said in a statement Wednesday. Excluding certain items, earnings will be US$2.15 to US$2.35 a share. Analysts had projected sales of US$9.08 billion and earnings of US$2.16 a share. The outlook signals that the smartphone market has begun to bounce back, tracking with Qualcomm’s forecast that demand would gradually recover this year. The San